Sturdy and strong defense was one key and improved line play on offense was another in Pontiac’s 29-12 Corn Belt Conference victory over Eureka on Senior Night at Williamson Field Friday.

The win snapped a four-game losing streak for the Tribe. Pontiac ended its league slate at 3-4 and moved to 3-5 heading into next week’s season finale at Kankakee. Eureka fell to 1-7, 1-6 in the CBC.

It was sort of a tale of two halves for Pontiac. The Indians really weren’t doing much on offense over the first two periods, but came out strong in the third to take control of the game.

“Very pleased with how we responded coming out in the second half, controlling the line of scrimmage,” PTHS head coach Dave Young said. “We felt disappointed coming into the locker room. The defense was on the field too long. We emphasized that we had to come out and establish the line of scrimmage and that’s what we did.”

Pontiac defining drive came on its first possession of the second half. The 9-play drive covered 58 yards — all on the ground. Line play was the key, something that was lacking in the first half.

“The offensive line did a great job the second half and had some really good blocking in our backfield,” Young said.

Nick Wotton rumbled 20 yards to start the drive. Eric DeMattia and Luke Garrels picked up back-to-back first downs as the Indians moved in the red zone. Garrels got another first down on a 2-yard run to the Hornets’ 3, but DeMattia lost a yard on the next play.

He got it back, plus the final three for a 4-yard touchdown run to cap the drive that took more than four minutes off the clock.

Pontiac picked up 12 first downs on the night, nine of them coming in the second half.

The Indians put together one more time-consuming drive but came away with no points. It did, however, set up a touchdown. Like the other, it started at the PTHS 42 and took nine plays. It also ate 4 1/2 minutes off the clock.

A big play on the drive was a 7-yard run by DeMattia on fourth down to keep the drive alive.

“We had a couple of fourth down situations taken care of and sustaining the drive,” Young said.

After a punt and penalty, Eureka started at its own 12 yard line. Another penalty pushed them back to the 7.

Page 2 of 2 - Like most of the night, the Hornets were unable to move the ball and were forced to punt. A bobbled snap led to a shanked punt that resulted in a minus-4 yard kick.

This set the Indians up at Eureka’s 5 yard line.

DeMattia went off the left side for a 3-yard touchdown on fourth down. Wotton’s conversion run made it 22-6.

Pontiac’s defense came through with stops most of the night, and made a couple of big plays to help offset the ones it yielded.

The biggest was made by Wotton when he picked off a Kolton Merritt pass at about the Eureka 43 yard line and returned it to the house. Wotton’s pick-6 made it 29-12.

Logan Gschwendtner recovered a fumble on Eureka’s next possession to shut the door on the Hornets.

Pontiac managed just 194 yards of offense, with 185 coming on the ground. DeMattia finished with 86 yards and 2 touchdowns on 19 carries. Wotton added 60 yards. Garrels had the Tribe’s other offensive touchdown and kicker Michael Hones made all three of his conversion tries.

“We played a pretty good first half of defense,” Eureka head coach Brian Johnson said. “We made some mistakes in the second half and let them make some plays.”

The defense was stung by the long ball, something that has bothered Young all season.

Eureka’s first touchdown came on a 16-yard pass play late in the second quarter. Merritt hit Dylan Troyer on the right sideline for the score that got the Hornets on the board.

The score was set up when Merritt connected with Dan Johnson for 59 yards.

Eureka’s other touchdown came in the second half. Merritt launched a bomb into coverage and Pontiac’s Tyler Masching tipped the ball, right into Johnson’s hands, who then raced to the end zone to complete a 73-yard touchdown play.

The Hornets finished with 199 yards on offense. Merritt threw for 154 yards and 2 TDs on just 5 of 16 passing. Carter Vance had 34 of Eureka’s 45 rushing yards.

“We really tuned in on stopping the running game and bottling (Vance) up,” Young said. “He’s a very, very good running back. We responded very well to some of the other things they were trying to do.”